COUTTS & CO EXPANDS CAMBRIDGE TEAM

15 March 2005

Coutts & Co, one of the UK’s leading private bank has today announced that it has made two new appointments to its Cambridge office to expand its operations further in the region and into East Anglia.

Wendie O’Neil joins as senior manager and will be aiming to consolidate the development of one of Coutts’ most successful regional offices by driving further promotion of Coutts’ wealth management proposition throughout Cambridge and the surrounding areas. Wendie has almost 20 year’s experience in financial services and joins from her role as business development manager with Friends Provident.

Graham Andrade joins as private banker from his role as senior relationship manager at NatWest Private Banking. With over 20 years experience with NatWest in the region, Graham’s role will be to utilise his local knowledge to develop the business in the region, while also assisting the office to expand further into Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

Commenting on the appointment, Mandy Harvey, regional client group head, commented; "We are pleased to welcome Wendie and Graham to our Cambridge team, which highlights the continued success of the Cambridge office since its opening four years ago. With their wealth of experience we are confident that they will enable us to build further on the successes of 2004."

Wendie added; "I am delighted to be joining Coutts at what is such an exciting time for the regional offices and look forward to the challenge of continuing the office’s past successes."

Coutts unveiled plans for significant expansion of its regional office network at the end of 2003. As part of its expansion plans, the private bank is currently increasing the number of private bankers in its regional offices by as much as 60% in addition to the opening of two new offices, the locations of which are still to be confirmed.

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For further information please contact:

Claire Symonds, Regional PR Manager, Coutts & Co. Tel: 020 7957 2650, mob: 07970 001149, email: claire.symonds@coutts.com

Notes to editors:

Coutts & Co

• Coutts is the international private banking arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is one of the world's largest banking groups.
• Coutts manages the wealth of 90,000 high net worth clients worldwide through a network of 50 offices globally.
• The first Coutts regional office to be opened was Eton in 1961. The most recent new opening was Liverpool, late last year. Today, Coutts has regional offices in Bath, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Eton, Guildford, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Tunbridge Wells & Winchester.
• Coutts offers clients a range of products and services covering sophisticated investment products together with expertise in trust and fiduciary services and UK tax and banking services.
• Coutts has been awarded ‘Best Use of Long-Only Multi-Manager Structures’ at the Private Asset Management Awards 2005 for the third time.

• Coutts & Co is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered in England No. 36695. Registered office: 440 Strand, London, WC2R 0QS

• Calls may be recorded